All Star weekend – Team Lidstrom versus team Staal
Carolina Hurricanes will be delighted to learn the fact that their Captain, Eric Staal was named the Captain of one of the teams that will be playing in the All Star game this weekend. Eric Staal alongside goalkeeper Cam Ward will be playing in the 2011
NHL All Star game. On the other hand, one of the young revelations in the Hurricanes in Jeff Skinner will also be participating in the weekend NHL Skills competition.
Carolina will be hosting the All Star weekend and are looking forward to it given the fact that they have this honour after 10 years. The Hurricanes have put a lot work and years of hard work and determination has resulted in the Hurricanes finally hosting
the game once again. They are working really hard to make the match a one to remember for the expected 50,000 crowd.
There's a clear sense that Raleigh's on the brink of something special," Scott Dupree, Vice President for Sports Marketing said. "We're really trying to make an impression and roll out the red carpet. This is a big deal for us."
Before the match begins, there is festival which will take place from Friday leading up to the game on Sunday. Each of the two days of the festival will witness country’s widely renowned band Three Doors Down play during the festival with a few upcoming
singers also coming along.
"It's great," Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said. "There are local people that have been working on it and setting up the special functions and they have done an outstanding job. Everybody's excited about it and we have a history of being good
hosts here for different sports, everything from the U.S. Open to the NHL Draft to college basketball.
"The '04 Draft here was very successful. The building was full, the fans were excited. They made it an exciting day, an exciting week for people and people will appreciate the fact that the All-Star Game is hosted here."
In 2008, Hurricanes were rejected as they bid to host the game with the reason being the fact that NHL administration said that no infrastructure was present for them to hold an event of such large scale. In the same very year the Hurricanes took steps after
which three five star hotels were built.
Marriot City Centre, Renaissance North Hills and Umstead Hotel and Spa are three hotels which have opened in recent years. Carolina Hurricanes have a lot of fans as they have come up with decent performances in recent times.
After appearing in the Stanley Cup final in 2002, the Hurricanes have been able win the Stanley Cup in 2006 and they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009 which has attracted and created a very strong fan base.
"The timing of it was good for us because we missed the playoffs last year and the fact that we host the All-Star Game really helped us increase our season-ticket base," Rutherford said.
Coming to the end and most interesting fact about the match is that the tickets to the match weren’t sold publicly. Tickets which are around 8,000 have been sold to people who are season-ticket holders. This is due to the reason that demand for tickets is
a lot more than the supply.
A recent interview which was conducted with a person moving towards the RBC Centre, home of the Hurricanes and hosting the All Star Weekend said that around 50 people he came across asked him questions regarding the game.
"People are thirsting for knowledge about every event that's out there," he said. "We're getting hammered (with phone calls). 'How can I get into this? How can I see this?' It's great to see how excited people are. Tickets sales are through the roof for
this event. Season-ticket holders have taken up all the events. There are more who want tickets. We never had to go to a public on-sale.
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